By Jane Dalton and Kristi Oliver,
posted on Feb 12, 2024
Both mindfulness and art cultivate present-moment awareness of the breath, the body, thoughts, emotions, and creative impulses. The aim of this issue is to provide purposeful experiences to enhance self-awareness by participating in mindful making without judgment to strengthen imagination and enhance the creative process. We hope you find inspiration in the lessons and insights shared in this issue!
Left: Professor of education and author Jane Dalton. Right: Davis professional development manager Kristi Oliver.
Whether you come to practice mindfulness out of sheer necessity or conscious decision, the outcome of this type of creative and contemplative practice is the same. Jane discovered mindfulness as a natural connection to her own art-making. She learned that engaging in slow, repetitive movement and suspending judgment while creating streams of consciousness improved her overall well-being and creative output.
Kristi noticed that her high-school students were becoming increasingly stressed and having difficulty focusing on the creative process. She was looking for ways to help them engage more deeply with their own art-making and really look at the works of others to further understand the world.
Through our experiences teaching mindfulness through art at all levels, we have found that the benefits have a ripple effect, moving outward to support students in developing their sense of wholeness and overall well-being.
This month’s theme of mindfulness seeks to address the need for creative approaches that support the whole student: mind, body, and spirit. Mindfulness is the state of being fully aware, receptive, and focused on the senses in the present moment. It is also a form of meditation that can be practiced anywhere. We believe that by practicing mindfulness through creative endeavors, we can engage and assist all learners.
Expressive Arts Experiences
In this issue, we focus on the expressive arts, which are an integrative, multimodal approach that utilizes a variety of methods to help people achieve personal growth. The focus is more on the creative process than on the artistic product and emphasizes self-expression as guided by creative media and personal intention. Anchored in simplicity, expressive arts experiences are enhanced by working with a variety of media to help open the senses and access the imagination.
Cultivating Mindfulness in the Classroom
Expressive arts are a natural partner with mindfulness because they focus on the process of being in the present moment using all of the senses. When implementing mindfulness in your classroom, there are a few things to keep in mind:
Mindfulness Is Intentional: Cultivating awareness is being present to what is happening in the moment. In the art classroom, this extends to materials, process, creative ideas, and emotions.
Mindfulness Is Experiential: Embrace opportunities to begin again, to explore, and to learn from the past without setting limitations. Focus on the process over the product.
Mindfulness Is Nonjudgmental: As artists, we are always critiquing. In mindful practice, we trust our intuition and connect with the creative impulse. This allows us to let go of our inner critic so that we can explore, take risks, and ultimately grow as artists.
The Need to Practice Being Present
The brain’s default is to take us away from the present moment, whereas mindfulness brings us into it. It’s also important to remember to PRACTICE; just like making art is a practice, mindfulness is, too!
Both mindfulness and art cultivate present moment awareness of the breath, the body, thoughts, emotions, and creative impulses. The aim of this issue is to provide purposeful experiences to enhance self-awareness by participating in mindful making without judgment to strengthen imagination and enhance the creative process. We hope you find inspiration in the lessons and insights shared in this issue!
Art teachers emphasize process-based, expressive arts experiences to help students develop mindfulness and present-moment awareness. Young students create observational paintings of peace while immersing themselves in nature; elementary students participate in a series of multisensory mark-making activities; middle-school students collaborate on a mural inspired by a symbol of interconnectedness; high-school students express gratitude through traditional and digital printmaking; and more.
